Sidebar – A Glossary Of Parantese
Your baby will learn to enunciate English even more quickly if you address her in a high-pitched, sing-song tone, using the specialized dialect known as “parentese.” Some key words and phrases to memorize:
- Beddy-bye: Time to retire.
- Blankie: A blanket.
- Blankie statement: Sweeping generalization. Usage: “Kendra, we don’t make blankie statements when discussing race or gender.”
- Boo-boo: A minor wound.
- B-b-b-b-boo: A minor speech impediment.
- Dada: Male caregiver.
- Dadaism: The male caregiver’s tendency to make absurdist art when he should be bathing Baby.
- Din-din: A meal taken in a cacophonous restaurant.
- Jammies: Size 1 pajamas that have become mysteriously clogged in the upstairs toilet.
- Kitty: A small cat.
- Mansiony: A small home.
- Owie: Term used to express sympathy (from the French, Ah, oui!)
- Pee-pee: A legume.
- Tee-tee: A golf neccessity.
- Uppie: The desire to be lifted by a parent or a pharmaceutical.
- Wa-Wa: Global conflict. As in “Wa-Wa I” or “Wa-Wa II.”
- Wittle: Small.
- Wittler: Smaller, often handcarved.
- Wuv: Ardent emotion.
- Wuv Hangover: The painful consequences of too much wuv.